Audiobook · read by volunteers
Dover Beach
Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)
Read by Clarke Bell, Clarica, Elizabeth Palmer, Elizabeth Klett, Justin Brett, Karen Savage, Lee Ann Howlett, Mark F. Smith, Squid Varilekova · 9 chapters · 19 min
About the book
Matthew Arnold's Dover Beach opens with a calm night at the English Channel: the tide is full, the light on the French coast gleams and then goes out, and the poet calls his companion to the window to hear the long roar of pebbles drawn back by the waves. From this quiet scene he draws a meditation on faith, doubt and human comfort that has made the poem one of the best known of the Victorian age. It is short, musical and haunting, and it sounds different in every voice. Here you can hear nine separate recordings by different volunteers, collected for a weekly poetry project. The whole set lasts only about fifteen to twenty minutes, which leaves plenty of time to compare how each reader handles the rhythm, the pauses and the final image. A fine choice for a reflective moment.
Introduction
Matthew Arnold, who lived from 1822 to 1888, was an English poet and critic, and also a school inspector. His essays on culture and education were influential, and his poems often have a mood of reflection and quiet sadness. Dover Beach is generally counted among his finest.
The poem describes a view of the sea from the cliffs near Dover and moves from the physical scene to a thought about the retreat of religious certainty in the modern world. It ends with an appeal to loyalty between people as the one thing left to rely on. Its mood has spoken to readers in many generations, and it has often been quoted, reprinted and set in anthologies.
This is a multi-version recording, which means that each of the volunteers records the same text. Each reading is credited to its volunteer, and the project dates from early April 2007. Listening to several versions in a row is a good way to see how performance alters meaning, and it may help you to notice details in the poem that a single hearing would miss. Many people know the last lines of the poem even if they have never read the whole of it. Hearing the entire piece, with its movement from calm description to doubt and back to a plea for closeness, shows how carefully it is built. If you like, listen to the first reading for the story and the later ones for the music.
Public domain
Matthew Arnold died in 1888: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text